Illumination source for the Fundamentals of Laser-Matter Interaction testbed

This is a NOTICE OF INTENT, not a request for a quotation. A solicitation document will not be issued, and quotations will not be requested.

Purpose

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) intends to negotiate a firm-fixed priced purchase order on a sole source basis with Tech Imaging Services, Inc., located at 428 Lincoln Avenue, Saugus, MA 01906. The purchase order will specifically procure quantity one (1) Cavilux HF Ultra-High-Speed (UHS) illumination system (810 nm, 500 W). The Cavilux HF UHS is manufactured by Cavitar Ltd., located in Finland. The illumination system shall fully meet or exceed all technical specifications identified in this notice as well as delivery of the entire system within 10 weeks after receipt of an order.

Authority

This acquisition is being conducted under the authority of FAR Subpart 13.106(b)(1) allowing the Contracting Officer (CO) to solicit from one source. The North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code for this acquisition is 334516 – Analytical and Laboratory Instrument Manufacturing, with the small business size standard of 1,000 employees.

Description

The Production Systems Group (PSG) in the NIST Engineering Laboratory (EL) conducts research in metals-based additive manufacturing (AM) to develop and deploy advances in measurement science that will enable rapid design-to-product transformation. In collaboration with NIST and outside scientists, the group develops, analyzes, and applies related control and monitoring methods and tools for AM measurement science at NIST. A Fundamentals of Laser-Matter Interaction (FLaMI) testbed was developed for this purpose. The FLaMI system is an open laser processing system to advance understanding of laser-matter interaction physics, monitoring, and metrology research.

The Cavilux HF UHS system illumination system will assist the PSG in advancing research in metal-based additive manufacturing (AM) processes. A PSG research goal is to conduct experiments with the same building conditions as the real AM production systems, but with the addition of an advanced high-speed imaging system that will provide new insights into the fundamental physics of laser melting in support of discovery of new process windows and melting regimes. Using such high-speed imaging techniques (in excess of 1,000,000 frames per second) requires a highly intense and uniform illumination source. For this high-speed imaging application, the illumination system must have a combination of appropriate illumination wavelength, intensity, frequency, pulse duration, and total duration. This equipment will place our research at the cutting edge of AM technology, reflecting the latest trends in AM development and bolstering NIST’s competitiveness in the field.

The Contractor shall provide an Illumination source meeting or exceeding the following minimum specifications:

Line Item 0001: Illumination Source

Quantity: 1

Technical Specifications:

• Illumination central wavelength: 810 nm

• Illumination power: 500 W

• High-speed duty cycle: 2 % to > 99 %

• Max. high-speed laser on duration: 30 µs to 10 s

• The system shall meet the following pulse durations and frequencies:

Pulse duration; Frequency (kHz): 2 % duty cycle (up to 10 s); >99 % duty cycle (up to 30 µs).

50 ns 400 10,000

100 ns 200 10,000

1 µs 20 1000

10 µs 2 100

Sole Source Determination

The sole source determination is based on the following:

Tech Imaging Services, Inc. is the sole provider of the Cavilux HF UHS illumination system in the United States for systems manufactured by Cavitar, LTD (located in Finland). No other source is available that is authorized to distribute the Cavilux HF UHS in the United States. The illumination system required by NIST is available from only one responsible source, Tech Imaging Services, Inc., and no other type of supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements. The Illumination system must have a combination of appropriate illumination wavelength, intensity, frequency, pulse duration, and total duration for the high-speed imaging (in excess of 1,000,000 frames per second) that NIST requires. For purposes of continuity of science, no other sources of supply, other than the Cavilux UF UHS system, is capable of meeting this requirement and is the only source that can fully achieve this requirement, which must be purchased directly through Tech Imaging Services, Inc. No other sources exist that can achieve this requirement.

Information for Interested Parties

Interested parties that believe they could satisfy the requirements listed above for NIST may clearly and unambiguously identify their capability to do so in writing by or before the response date for this notice. This notice of intent is NOT a solicitation.

Any questions regarding this notice must be submitted in writing via email to Hunter Tjugum, Contract Specialist, at Hunter.Tjugum@nist.gov. All responses to this notice of intent must be submitted via email to hunter.tjugum@nist.gov so that they are received not later than 12:00 PM, Eastern Time, on the 3rd business day following release of this notice.

Each response should include the following Business Information:

a. Contractor Name, Address,

b. Point of Contact Name, Phone Number, and Email address

c. Contractor (SAM) Universal Entity Identification (UEI)

d. Contractor Business Classification (i.e., small business, 8(a), woman owned, HUBZone, veteran owned, etc.) as validated in System for Award Management (SAM). All offerors must have an active registration in www.SAM.gov.

e. Capability Statement